Mass Customization Made Easy. (Produce).

How can you mass customize vehicles in the assembly plant--as in creating limited editions in the 1,000- to 20,000-unit range--without excessive complexity in build?

People at the 3M Automotive Innovation Center (Livonia, MI) have come up with some answers. They're applying a variety of films, badges, and other graphic elements to production vehicles (inside and out) that completely transform the nature of the base vehicle.

A prime example is the transformation of a Ford Explorer into what's called the "Country Squire" for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show. Yes, this looks just like the station wagons of that nomenclature of the 60's and 70's. 3M was, in fact, a supplier of that wood-grained graphic for those family haulers, business that went away when the minivan came to the fore (and 3M did have business for the wood-look on the Chrysler Town & Country).

Today, of course, the Scotchcal Wood Grain film is a higher fidelity wood-appearing material. One interesting touch on the Country Squire is the raised-wood rails by Spectrum Cubic. Inside the vehicle there are a variety of other details from the company, including graphics for the seating surfaces and electro-luminescent lighting for the instrument cluster.

Will the Country Squire see real production? According to Ed Molchany, Explorer marketing manager at Ford, "I think it's a very cool concept." He went on to note, "Customers continue to look for ways to customize their vehicles and we are committed to answering this customer demand. People use vehicles as a means of self-expression, and, to the extent Ford can accommodate this need, we will be rewarded in the marketplace."

Another thing to think about: for the 2000 SEMA show, 3M used flame graphics on PT Cruisers to make the DCX vehicles look like hotrods of yore. Those graphics are going onto production vehicles at the DCX Toluca plant and are also available as dealer options.